Secret Projects & Monograms

You may remember a few weeks ago when I was talking about a secret project. Well, it was a secret because it was a wedding gift for a friend of mine.

At some point she had expressed an interest in buying some of my artwork, to which I was like... uh how about I just give you some. I haven't done a ton of commission work because I'm always nervous the person won't like it. But since this was a surprise wedding gift, I got really excited about it. I got the idea from the bed linens they registered for.

Marimekko Saarni Sage Bed Linens from Crate & Barrel

I wanted to make it personal so I sketched out a leaf motif similar to the duvet cover with a monogram.

I really wanted to put some of my block printing to work so I carved the leaf and the 'W' to print.

Unfortunately I couldn't really get the right color by mixing the inks AND I forgot to carve the W backwards... so I decided to scan in the prints and do the layout and color digitally.

I honestly am pretty happy with the result so I hope they like it. Their wedding yesterday was beautiful and I was so honored to be invited. Congrats to the newlyweds!

Wok This Way

Okay, I know that's a really lame title for a post. True story... I was in my car singing to Beastie Boys and there's a line in one song, "I'll stir fry you in my wok." (Ten points if you can name the song).

I know this is weird but I thought, I can draw a wok! So I did, and some chopsticks. I also tried little rice pieces (kernels?) but they looked weird. Yeah... my creative process is also weird.

One thing I'm learning from my surface design text book is trying to practice other styles of patterns. I've got a pretty good handle on abstract patterns, but as per usual... not so good at the things-that-look-like-things category.

So here's a first step. Not super complicated but I kinda like how it also looks kind of abstract and not too different from my overall style.

Taking an Ocean Break

I turned in my outline for my grad school final project yesterday so it was finally time to take a little break tonight. My client is the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration which has actually been really interesting.
Granted, I've been kicking myself for picking a complicated topic since there's just so much to learn about aquaculture. Who knew? Some of the photos on their website are really cool and beautiful. Like these pictures of deep sea corals. 
So I thought I'd draw some "ocean-y" patterns and these look a bit like waves, which was a surprise actually because it started out looking more like this. I really love blue and white!

Asparagus or Bow Ties?

One of the greatest things about designing abstract patterns is listening to what people think they look like.  I always have my own opinion which you can usually see from whatever I named the file on Flickr, but I've heard some pretty weird ones too.

Do you see bow ties or asparagus bundles? 

What about now? Fun fact. I came up with the shape when I was trying to draw a pleated skirt. Unrelated, I'm in the midst of reading this textbook about surface design I bought and learning lots about the business and what it actually takes to do it. I'm such a glutton for punishment... I spend my free time (when I'm not writing my grad school thesis or doing my real life work) reading textbooks :oP

Webbed Feet & Pumpkins

As I mentioned yesterday, we decided to take this lovely weekend to go pick some pumpkins. Kevin and I are pretty particular about our pumpkins so he covered a lot of ground before picking his. I spent more time playing with Instagram and taking some pretty photos.

Which reminded me of this picture of seagull tracks I took at the beach a few weeks ago. The shape of the tracks and the texture of the sand was really inspiring. Most of my patterns recently have started with a particular shape so this was a good jumping off point for me.

I kept running with the same color theme from yesterday. 

So between the successful pumpkin patch picking and some fun graphic prints, it was a pretty great weekend. How was yours?

Hyper Links

Hey Internet. It's been a busy week for the beginning of October. Today we went pumpkin picking (more to come on that tomorrow) and I spent the afternoon baking an apple pie while watching the poor poor Florida Gators play LSU.

But in between all that, I managed to work out a new pattern that I really like. I wasn't sure (as usual) how it was going to come out because it was a little extra complicated. To get all the little links in each area all linked up I had to keep messing around with it.

The result was well worth the effort though. I love that the more I practice this the more I love each pattern. I think I'm definitely improving which is a huge confidence builder.

Illustration Friday: Bundled Up

It's Illustration Friday! (Well, Saturday actually). This week's word was 'hibernation' which is appropriate, because as you know I'm super depressed that summer is over. On top of that it's been a gross, cold rainy day so I'm ready to bundle up and not leave the house for a few months.

We spent today actually walking in the cold rain to head down to Crafty Bastards in D.C. It was fun to see all the interesting crafts, etc. 

We saw Jay McCarroll from season one of Project Runway which was pretty awesome, especially since it was Kevin who pointed him out. We also ran into Jessica from the Declaration of You and I commiserated that today would have been a PERFECT day for her new rain boots.